Cattle futures firmed and closed mostly higher Tuesday, supported by recently lower Corn futures and cash fed cattle demand strength.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 53¢ higher (7¢ to $1.12 higher), except for an average of 37¢ lower in the back three contracts.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 18¢ higher.
Corn futures closed 1¢ to 3¢ lower in the front four contracts, and then mostly fractionally higher.
Soybean futures closed fractionally higher to 5¢ higher through Sep ‘24 and then fractionally lower.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from mostly inactive on very light demand to a standstill through Tuesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, live prices were $154-$155/cwt. in the Texas Panhandle, $155 in Kansas, $157-$158 in Nebraska and $155-$157 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed prices were $245.
Choice Boxed beef cutout value was 21¢ higher Tuesday afternoon at $254.74/cwt. Select was $2.71 lower at $225.82/cwt.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed little changed Tuesday with investors apparently awaiting key economic data this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 3 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 6 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 65 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed 95¢ to $1.01 higher through the front six contracts.
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U.S. agricultural exports next year are projected at $190.0 billion, according to the latest quarterly Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade from USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) and the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). The projection is $3.5 billion less than the August forecast, mostly driven by lower export expectations for soybeans, cotton and corn.
Beef exports were forecast $500 million higher to $10.3 billion on increased higher unit values with expectations domestic beef production will decline.
“The global economic outlook for calendar year 2023 remains uncertain due to inflation, changing monetary policy conditions, and trade disruptions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” explains ERS-FAS analysts. “Previous growth projections are moderated due to tempered economic growth in Europe and North America.”